Red

[MiniDave]

I was still having issues with my back at this point but I decided sitting on the couch wasn't helpful either, so next I tackled the rear struts as they're fairly easy, and I don't have to get under the car to change them. I bought "fully loaded" struts that came assembles, springs, shock, bearing tops etc. It's just two bolts on the top, one on the bottom and a couple of hoses and wires to move to change them, you don't even have to remove the sway bar links. Probably the hardest part was lifting these heavy ass wheels off and back on! That and I could not get the right rear wheel off, fortunately my neighbor across the street was home - he's a BIG guy, he gave it one swift kick and off it came. I made sure to wire brush all the rust off the hub and put a light coat of silicone grease on it before I put the wheel back on.

The fronts were a whole nother story!

[MiniDave]

Next up, front struts. Again, loaded struts so I didn't have to disassemble them, just R&R. However.....

I had loaned out my ball joint tool, which isn't usually an issue as the lower ball joint bolts into the hub....this one was rusted in solid. I finally got my zip gun with a fine blade in between the flange and the hub and it started to move - but it still fought me. You have to get it loose so you can move  the hub out far enough to get the end of the strut up and out of the hub. Once you get it out it's easy street - but you do have to remove the sway bar link which is a total PITA as they use a locking nut and you have to hold the bolt with an allen wrench while you unwind it with a box end wrench. It took a while.

I cleaned up the hole that the lower end of the strut fits into in the hub and gave it a coat of grease. I also wire brushed the hole that the ball joint fits into and greased it too. putting it all back together wasn't too hard, tho I had to use a bottle jack to push up on the hub so that the strut would slide down into place.

Then it's just a matter of putting everything back, I held off installing the sway bar links as I have new ones. The next challenge was to remove the subframe so I could change out the lower control arms, bushings, sway bar bushings and all the ball joints. Don came over and gave me a hand with that....

[MiniDave]

The lower control arm bushings are liquid filled, and these were completely trashed, the ball joints and rest of the bushings seemed pretty OK, but since I had new ones and it was all apart I went ahead and changed everything.

The bolts that hold the sway bar and lower control arm on were tight, even my 600ft lb air wrench wouldn't budge one of them so I got out my 3ft long 3/4" drive breaker bar, and put my foot against the subframe while I pulled HARD.....it finally broke loose. Going back I realized the air compressor had been off a while and the pressure was down, so I was able to get them plenty tight again once it pumped up to full PSI.

The steering rack comes down with the subframe along with the reservoir and you have to carefully feed it down thru the back of the engine.....using the lift table really helped with this job.

So while that was off, we took the front of the car off to gain access to the next few jobs, swapping out the motor mounts and pulling the oil pan.

[MiniDave]

I wanted to drop the oil pan for a couple of reasons, first being it looks like it's been leaking at the gasket, plus I wanted to take one rod cap down and see what the bearings looked like....I'm glad I did as they were well worn. I mic'd the crank and it showed fine so I ordered a set of bearing off Amazon - bad idea. When they got here they didn't even fit the rod cap, so back they went and I found a set of proper King bearings, they fit perfectly but then I found out the next mistake I made - when I went to look up the torque spec for the rod bolts I found they were single use. I looked online and wasn't finding any so I called the dealer, this was Thursday afternoon and they of course didn't have them but claimed they could have them by Sat morning, and their price was reasonable so I said go for it.

Sat Am came and I went down to pick them up only to find they had been shipped from a different warehouse and wouldn't be here till Tuesday or Wed! Normally this wouldn't be an issue but I'm leaving to a MINI event in Asheville on the 22nd and this would be the 9th or 10th before they got here! Not much I could do so I waited. They did get here Tuesday so I was able to button it all up.

[MiniDave]

By now, this was where I was, before pulling the pan - you can see how the crank sensor has been leaking too. This is a common issue on these engines but you have to take so much stuff off to get to it that most people just let it go.

There were a few more evidences of deferred maintenance - check out the air filter and cabin filter!

[MiniDave]

So, jobs still needing to be done, change out the motor mounts - the one on the driver's side required removal of that big aluminum bracket - and to get THAT off I had to remove the fuse panel, air box and a whole bunch of other bits....swapping it is just a matter of unbolt and bolt, but like anything on one of these it's getting to it that's difficult.



I decided to hold off changing the right side mount as there wouldn't be anything supporting the engine, the pan was still off waiting for rod bolts.

So the next job in line was to remove the supercharger to service it. That required even more stuff come off the front of the engine.....





When I drained the oil out it didn't smell as bad as some I've done, and there appeared to be plenty of oil in it. I found out I had only bought one small bottle of s charger oil 118ml and it holds 190ml. so I had to buy another from the local Chevy dealer - $18 a bottle now!

[MiniDave]

While the supercharger was off and out of the way I replaced the tensioner, idler and belt - well I tried to replace the belt!. my brother was in town so I drafted him to help and we struggled for almost an hour and could not get it to fit. So, I dug the old one out of the trash - 1390mm vs the new one at 1371mm - no wonder we couldn't get it on!

Good news, the Autozone right down the street had the right one in stock, so we finally managed to finish that job too. I did go ahead and replace the right mount by balancing the engine on a bottle jack and a chunk of 4X4!

There are a couple of plastic tubes that fit onto the big black tube and as can be the way with any 20 year old plastic part, one of them broke. I didn't think anyone would have that as it was part of the vacuum feed for the brake booster, but Pelican parts had it along with the lower radiator hose that I managed to put a hole in trying to pry it off the thermostat housing nipple! Local dealer wanted $85 for that lower radiator hose, and no one I checked had it any cheaper - Pelican had it for $23 and the plastic bits for 60, so about what the dealer wanted for just the hose.

The plastic tube presses into the red fittings on the black tube.



I also had Pelican sell me a set of spark plugs, I have no idea how old these are, they could be the originals. They looked OK but.....



I also replaced the water pump that bolts onto the back of the supercharger.

[MiniDave]

So while waiting for the rod bolts to come along with the Pelican parts, I drafted Carl and Don in to replace the exhaust. That kind of work is not so easy on my lift since it runs down the middle of the car, but We got the old one out with a minimum of curse words, but the new one presented its own challenges when we realized the hanger rods weren't anywhere close to where they needed to be. After a LOT of conversation we decided they were just bent, so I applied a 3lb hammer and whadya know, things lined up nicely!

I wasn't sure what it was going to sound like as I could not find a sound clip for this brand anywhere on the WWW, but now that I've had it running I like it - it's quiet!

[MiniDave]

When the rod bolts finally got here I pulled the rest of the bearing caps off and here's what I found.....



I replaced them all, lubed them with assembly lube and bolted the pan back on. With the pan in place the supercharger and A/C compressor went back in too, along with the engine steady which is under the motor and bolts between the subframe and oil pan.

That done Carl came back for more punishment and helped me put the subframe back in, bolt up the struts, re-attach the steering rack to the column and generally just put stuff back on.



Still a very long way to go, you don;t realize just how much you took apart till you start putting it back together!

[MiniDave]

So I started in on the remaining bits for the engine, all the plumbing, coolant hoses, wiring, reinstalled the air box and fuse panels and all the associated stuff - that was another day and left me here....

[MiniDave]

Next up the front bumper, radiator, bumper cover, inner wheel well covers etc. I had to kinda learn as I go as I wasn't the one who took these apart, plus there were fasteners missing and they were assembled wrong by the last person who worked on it.....it took a while but I finally got it all together. Turned the key and it fired right up and ran sweet!

Took it for a run around the block and so far I'm happy with how it sounds.

Tuesday I have an appointment for an alignment, it has new tires and I don't want to eat them up on a 2K mile trip.

[MiniDave]

Finished at last!

I took a clip of the exhaust sound but it sounds a lot deeper and throatier than it does in this clip....

[MPlayle]

You have been really busy!

[MiniDave]

Yeah and I wrenched my back again yesterday.....this is getting old. I'm supposed to start PT this week.....